CEN15IA139 · Gulfstream Aerospace G IV
Executive Air Charter of Boca Raton Gulfstream Aerospace G IV · Incident: fire/smoke (non-impact) during takeoff
From Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) to Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN15IA139
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Incident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Gulfstream Aerospace G IV
- Aircraft type
- Gulfstream G
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N701DB
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), Eagle, COTo Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR), Burbank, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 28 years (built 1987)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · rejected takeoff
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Fire/smoke (non-impact)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the pretakeoff flight control check was "normal" with "no binding or resistance issues." During the initial takeoff, the pilot used the autothrottles. Shortly after, a triple chime and master warning indication activated, so he rejected the takeoff. However, the pilot observed no messages on the crew alert system nor any tripped electrical circuit breakers, so he chose to attempt another takeoff. During this takeoff, he did not use the autothrottles. As the airplane accelerated through 75 knots, the triple chime and master warning indication activated again. The engine low-pressure turbine speed was within the yellow arc, so the pilot reduced the engine thrust slightly to return to the normal operating range and continued the takeoff. At rotation speed, he pulled back on the control yoke, but the flight controls did not seem to respond normally. The pilot added that the controls had no "noticeable pressure resistance and felt unloaded with hydraulic pressure." He noted that the yoke was moved "forward and then back further aft" with the same result. The pilot subsequently rejected the takeoff and applied maximum braking and full reverse thrust. He taxied the airplane off the runway and stopped it on the parallel taxiway.
A postincident examination of the airplane, including the flight control system, did not reveal any anomalies that would have compromised the effectiveness of the flight control system. Although minor variations in the inboard elevator control cable tension and elevator control surface deflections were noted, these variations also likely existed during the initial flight of the day; the pilots of that flight reported no discrepancies. After repairing the fire damage to the right main landing gear, the airplane manufacturer had two test pilots conduct an evaluation test flight. The pilots reported that the elevator response during takeoff was "positive, obvious, and 100% normal." The pilots continued the takeoff and subsequently returned for a full-stop landing. They reported that no anomalies occurred during the evaluation test flight.
Probable cause
The pilot's rejected takeoff due to perceived flight control system anomalies, which led to excessive brake temperatures and resulted in a right main landing gear brake fire.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN15IA139
- Event ID
- 20150209X74707
- Case number
- CEN15IA139
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2015-02-08.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 4122aa9d4b051fef7207ec93b05bd9a3cc206316615e7db9e2daece96866a315; retrieved 2026-09-16T02:04:38.162Z.